How I fell in Love With a Potter
by GinnyLovesHarry123
Summary: Zoe wants to live a normal witch's  life but unfortunatly for her Albus is going to stop her


1

The Letter

If there ever was something to look forward to, it was today. Today a man named Neville Longbottom came to my little house in my little town. The conversation went like this:

"Is this the residence of Miss Zoë Silverton?"

"Yes. Can I help you?"

"Yes as a matter of fact I believe you can. I am from a school called Hogwarts. Your daughter, Zoë here has been accepted there."

"Are you sure?"

"Quite, may I come in?"

"Yes of course. Your name is?"

"Mr. N. Longbottom."

"Lovely. ZOE!"

"Yes, Mum?

"This man says you've been accepted into his school. What does your school specialize in?"

"Magic, Madam."

"Magic! Sir, you've just_ got _to be joking."

"No Miss Zoë I am not."

"Sir, please, she is still so young. I don't want such things stuck in her mind."

"Ah, but Madam, I am not joking you."

At this my mother was stunned. Should I really believe him? I decided to go with the quote 'Seeing is believing'.

"Please, Mister, can you show me?" I asked curiously. He groped around in his pockets and pulled out something the looked strangely like a wand.

Pointing his wand at my parrot, Sophie, he tapped her three times and said, "_Feroverto_,"

"Now really." My mother gaped. For all of a sudden Sophie had turned into a _water goblet_.

"Now you can read your letter." He said casually after Sophie had regained her natural appearance.

Hogwarts

School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Dallas Hughes

(Order of Merlin, First Class; Capt. of Winzengamot)

Dear Miss Silverton,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You will find all of your needed items enclosed on a second piece of paper. We await your owl no later than July 1.

Sincerely,

Professor D. Caldwell

Professor D. Caldwell Asst. Headmistress

"You are really sure that _I_ am a witch! I mean just…wow! You're quite sure Mr.—"

"Longbottom, dear. And, yes I am quite sure. Hasn't anything happened that you couldn't explain when you were mad or scared?"

With that I had to think a bit. Once when I was ten I had been punished for something I hadn't done and when my fifth grade teacher was walking me down to the principal's office all of a sudden she marched me into the principal's office, shoved me into a chair, and walked right into the principal and started to yell at him. She was fired. Also when we were broke because my Dad lost his job, I asked for a parrot for my birthday. I knew the answer was no, I just couldn't help it, so my parents talked about it all night long, and at one I in the morning my mother came down and said the he had to check in our wallet. I knew that there was nothing in there; we had spent it all on groceries. But when she opened it there was about close to five thousand dollars in there—I don't know if these were magical incidents but they seemed pretty close to the impossible. Also when my horrible bully of a cousin sent me this moldy overcoat for my birthday it had all of a sudden, the next morning, turned into the jacket I had been wanting all year.

"Exactly," Mr. Longbottom chuckled. "Do you see what I mean?"

"But how exactly will she pay for this? I doubt that you use our kind of money." My mother realized.

"Not to worry, not to worry. There is a find at Hogwarts for Muggle-born children."

"Muggle-born, sir?" I asked, curious.

"A Muggle is a non-magical person. Like your mother for instance." My mother looked highly affronted.

"It is not an insult, Madam, do not worry." He smiled.

She still looked doubtful.

"Now your ticket may be a bit confusing but ask around a bit to people who seem likely." He advised. " Now I would advise you to get packing and I shall see you tomorrow, here at twelve o'clock?"

"Fine, yes, lovely." My mother said looking like the truth of his words had really hit her.

It wasn't until he left that I exploded.

"Oh my goodness! This is so exciting! MOTHER I AM GOING TO A SCHOOL OF MAGIC!"

"Dear I am so proud of you, but could you _stop_ yelling and shouting about." She hugged me, "Now do as the man says, and get packing."

I gave her one last fleeting hug and flew upstairs, where I started to pack.

The next morning I woke bright and early and jumped into my clothes, bounded down to breakfast, and hugged my mother again. My father had heard the news and left me a note on the counter reading,

_Dear Zoë,_

_ I am so proud of you. If I had known I would have been there. I am skiving off work tonight to celebrate with you. I always knew you could do something like this._

_I love you with all my heart,_

Your Father

At noon the doorbell rang. I felt my heart leap. Flying downstairs I wrenched open the door.

"Good morning. Ready to go to London?" Neville Longbottom stood there smiling down at me.

"Yes one moment, please. MUM."

"Yes darling? Is he here?"

"YES, COME DOWN AND SAY "BYE" BECAUSE I REALLY WANT TO GO NOW."

She came down stairs, kissed me on the cheek, bid us goodbye and headed back upstairs to finish the laundry, humming as she went.

We went outside and I looked around for a car. He seemed to notice my confusion because he said,

"If you are wondering, the answer is no, there in no car."

"Then how are we going to get there?" I asked, puzzled.

"In the wizarding world there is something we call "Apparation". You disappear and rematerialize in a place of your choosing. Somewhat like…what was the word? Ah, teleporting. Here we go take my arm and one…two…three!"

The effect was instantaneous. It felt like being shoved down a pitch-black tube that was way too small. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't scream. I wanted to scream, to get out. The tube was pressing against my skull! My eardrums were exploding. I-can't-br-

"You did good. Most people vomit the first time. I am utterly impressed." Said an approving voice.

"I…_never_…want…to…do that…again."

"Don't worry we are here any way."

I looked around. There was a little bookshop and a burger joint, but no entrance into the magical world as far as I could see.

"Ah here we are! Right this way now. Here's the place. Muggle's can't see it, so it was the perfect place for Diagon Alley. Hello Tom! Nice Day? Hello Mrs. Abrisham. Good day to you. This is Zoë, Tom, just picked her u for her Hogwarts things!"

As soon as we walked in he started to say hello to _everyone_, I mean _everyone._ Wee walked to the very back of the shop and into a small courtyard littered with old flowerpots. He tapped the brick wall once, twice, three times and it went and spread so that it was a marvelous cobble stone archway.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley, Zoë."

2

Hogwarts

I wish I had a thousand more eyes! There are a million shops, full of "Nimbus 5,000! Fastest broomstick yet!" and odd people dressed in robes complaining about how, "I was just in the animal emporium just now and was buying me usual feed, and guess what the old wizard charged me? Two galleons, five sickles, and eleven knuts! I told him he was mad, but no, he did not, absolutely _refused_ to listen! Threw me out of the shop, just now! Mad! Absolutely raving!"

"Where are we off to first?" I asked excitedly.

"Oh, that reminds me! Here's your gold. So first lets get your robes…"

We went everywhere. I got new school robes at a place called Madam Malkins; I got my schoolbooks at a place called Flourish and Blotts. But _I_ really wanted to go to the wand shop.

"Ollivander's! Here we are. Wands. You go on inside." I walked slowly to the wand shop and glanced around.

"Hello?" Mr. Longbottom called out.

"I'll be out in a jiffy!" Called a voice whom I had never heard. "Ah, new at Hogwarts then? Here try this one. Maple, dragon heart string, and 11 inches." She was a jolly woman with rather big, misty eyes, and extraordinarily long fingers. I tried millions of wands, but on my sixth try I picked up a "Cherry, phoenix feather, twelve and a half inches. Good for transfiguration and charms." And sudden warmth spread from my fingers all the way to my toes. A wonderful sensation really.

"Wonderful, dear. A lovely wand. Seven galleons, please. Thank you, dear. Have a good day!"

After that Mr. Longbottom told me that I still had enough money left for something, so I decide to have a look around at the pet shop. I ended up picking out a lovely cat. She has magnificent orange fur streaked with white. Like a tiger of sorts. She purrs whenever you touch her and loves everyone. I decided to name her Melody because when you play a song or turn the radio on she starts to purr. I mean really purr! You can't hear yourself think.

When we got outside I looked longingly at my wand.

"Can you tell me a spell, so I can do it now? I asked eagerly.

"I am afraid not. You see when you turn seventeen, and only when you turn seventeen you are allowed to you use magic outside school." My face fell. "Now you spend the next few days with your parents and they will get you to King's Cross Station at 10:30 in the afternoon. Now prepare yourself. Apparation, as you recall needs warning." He sighed apologetically.

It happened again. The tube was closing in on my ribs. I was suffocating.

We were outside my house once again. Such lovely fresh air.

"Bye, now. I shall se you at Hogwarts." He waved and with a small _pop_ he vanished.

The last few days with mum and dad were sad and fun all at the same time. Dad and Mum, both cried their eyeballs out. On the last day I packed the last of my things in my trunk and got all of my schoolbooks, wand, and gathered Melody up into a cage and we set off for King's Cross. When we got there Mum loaded my things into a luggage cart and we followed Mr. Longbottom's advice 'Talk to people who seem likely,'

Finally after looking around for people who might be of some help we heard "I think the platform's this way. What does my ticket say Mum? Platform 9 ¾ right?"

"Yes, Lily, dear. I wish your father were here to help us. I hate being a Muggle."

We swung around. I say a girl that looked my age, maybe a bit shorter with blue eyes and long wavy black hair.

"Excuse me. Could you help us? I'm new at Hogwarts, too and I can't find the platform."

"Oh. Hello, dear. Lily's father said it was somewhere over here. Follow us…I think this is it. Now…what did he say? Oh, yes. You run straight at the barrier. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous."

I didn't know if to trust this woman or not…I decided to trust.

"Here I'll do it. Then Lily, then you, and your parents."

She ran straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten and…simply vanished. Lily looked sunned too. Then she got a hold of herself and ran. She too disappeared. I blinked and tried it myself. It looked solid. I ran. Before the wall's cover enveloped me I heard my mother's voice say "She is just so brave. I probably wouldn't have done that myself!" I smiled to myself and walked into a world of steam. I say my Mum and Dad's figures erupt out of the wall as I had done. They stared, amazed for a moment and than said "Good job, Sweetie. Let's go find you a compartment."

We hauled my stuff into an empty compartment and said our good-byes.

"Sorry, no other compartment is empty. Could I sit here?"

It was Lily. That girl who helped us get onto the platform.

"Go ahead. My name is Zoë. Zoë Silverton. You?"

"Lily. Lily McKinnon. Oh, good the trolley is here!"

"Anything from the trolley m'dears? I got Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes this year."

"Can I have a pumpkin pasty, a chocolate frog, and Drooble's please?"

"Six sickles, and a knut. Anything for you dear?"

"Yes, please. A Chocolate Frog, and a pack of Drooble's." I said reading the labels off of the nearest boxes.

"That'll be four sickles."

We handed her the money and sat back down, now eating our sweets. Our compartment door slid open and two girls walked in.

"Sorry to be rude, but we had to share our compartment with two other boys and they are blowing loud raspberries every time we try to talk. Yours is the only compartment that isn't full. Do you mind if we join you?" It was the girl with brown hair and big brown eyes that spoke first.

"Go ahead." Lily replied. So they sat down opposite us.

"I'm Emily Cantman by the way." Said the girl who asked to sit here.

"I am Stacey. Stacey Abrisham." The second girl said thoughtfully. "Who are you lot?" She added

"I'm Zoë Silverton and she is Lily McKinnon." I said.

"Where you hoping to go if you have the choice?" Stacey asked. I just realized that she has startlingly green eyes and dark brown hair.

"I want to be in Gryffindor. But maybe not…truthfully I don't know." Emily said quietly.

"Maybe Ravenclaw. I like reading. But I hate school. I just feel as though there could be such marvelous ways of teaching other that staring at a textbook." Lily thought.

"I agree, but I don't want to be too hard on them… I mean we don't know what it's like being them. I don't know what house I would proffer. They all seem nice…but I don't feel very ambitious." Stacey said thoughtfully.

Finally it was my turn…I had no idea what these people were talking about. So I decided to tell the truth.

"I don't know what we're talking about." I said sheepishly.

They all smiled apologetically. It was Emily who spoke first

"Well at Hogwarts they have something called Houses. You get sorted into them depending what your personality is like. Gryffindor is for the brave. Ravenclaw is for the smart. Hufflepuff is for the kind and hard working. Then there is Slytherin. That is for the ambitious. In other words for the evil. Not a witch or wizard went bad in any other of the other houses." She smiled.

"Oh…erm…I might be in…r-Ravenclaw? I stuttered. "I mean I like to read and draw…I like learning."

Just then a voice went on the intercom. "Please change into your school robes. We will be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes time. Leave your luggage on the train, they will be taken into the school separately."

We changed and went outside to join the rest swarming out in the corridor. The train stopped and everyone rushed out into the cold night.

"Firs' years! Firs' years o'er hear!" There was a big booming voice. The four of us hurried over to where the voice sounded. "Are yeh all hear? Come o'er hear now. Follow the lan'ern."

We went until the man led us to the edge of a great big black lake. We got into the small fleet of boats awaiting us and the boats magically set off. We went until e could see a great magnificent castle. Everyone gasped. It was truly beautiful. We hit the shore and the man called,

"Everyone 'ear? Good! Follow me now." He knocked on a heavy wooden door. It opened with a loud _creak_ and a nice looking witch stood there. She was young and had a kind look in her eyes. Also she had big bushy hair.

"Thank you, Hagrid. First Years welcome to Hogwarts. Follow me." She led us into a great hall and took us to a small room alongside the hallway. "Welcome. In a few moments you will be sitting down with everybody else. But first you have to be sorted. I will give you a few moments to smarten yourselves up, then I will come back to fetch you. I am Professor Weasley, if you were wondering."

And she left.

3

The Sorting

A few minutes later she came back, smiling pleasantly.

"Follow me into the Great Hall please. Form a line…that's it. Now When I call your name please come up and sit upon the stool and I shall place the Sorting Hat upon your head. But first let us listen."

_*A thousand years or more ago,_

_When I was newly sewn,_

_There lived four wizards of renown,_

_Whose names are still well known:_

_Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,_

_Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,_

_Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,_

_Shrewd Slytherin, from fen,_

_They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,_

_They hatched a daring plan_

_To educate young sorcerers_

_Thus Hogwarts School began._

_Now each of these four founders_

_Formed their own House, for each_

_Did value different virtues_

_In the ones they had to teach._

_By Gryffindor, the bravest were_

_Prized far beyond the rest;_

_For Ravenclaw, the cleverest_

_Would always be the best;_

_For Hufflepuff, hard workers were_

_Most worthy of admission;_

_And power-hungry Slytherin_

_Loved those of great ambition._

_Now slip me snug about your ear,_

*_Copied from Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire_

_I've never yet been wrong,_

_I'll have a look inside your head_

_And tell you where you belong!_

It was the Sorting Hat. It could sing.

At this everyone burst into applause and Professor Weasley said, "Aaron, David"

Then the hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN" to the whole hall. It went on like this for quite a while.

"Abrisham, Stacey"

Stacey shook as she got up on stage. "Good Luck" I told her. Smiling meekly she hobbled her way up to the stool.

"HUFFLEPUFF"

"Ackley, Ronald"

"GRYFFINDOR"

"Andy, Samantha"

"RAVENCLAW"

"Bradley, Maisey"

"HUFFLEPUFF"

"Brandon, Elizabeth"

"HUFFLEPUFF"

"Brock, Nathan"

"RAVENCLAW"

"Butler, Cassandra"

"SLYTHERIN"

"Cantman, Emily"

"Deep breath…deep breath…"

"GRYFFINDOR"

"Cook, Taylor"

"RAVENCLAW"

"Coote, Mimi"

"SLYTHERIN"

"Dally, Joseph"

"RAVENCLAW"

"Demp, Harper"

"GRFFINDOR"

"Dukton, Cambridge"

"GRYFFINDOR"

"Embry, Hunter"

"SLYTHERIN"

"Elk, Tabitha"

"RAVENCLAW"

"Falcon, Suzie"

"SLYTHERIN"

"Feshall, Jack"

"SLYTHERIN"

"Igle, Tammy"

"GRYFFINDOR"

"Isle, Shoshani"

"GRYFFINDOR"

"Jump, Ellie"

"RAVENCLAW"

"Lexinton, Daren"

"HUFFLEPUFF"

"McKinnon, Lily"

"Do I have to go up there?" She let me slightly push her up to the stool.

"RAVENCLAW"

There was a pair of twins "Nagematt, Amy" and "Nagematt, Ashley". Ashley went to Gryffindor, but Amy went to Hufflepuff. There was "Pashion, Carson" who went to "RAVENCLAW".

"Mullen, Prill"

"HUFFLEPUFF"

There were six people with 'N' last names. I was truly amazed that there were so many. "Nan, Josh" who went to "HUFFLEPUFF". There was 'Nace, Ashton', 'Nellman, Kim', and 'Nye, Bob' who all went to Slytherin, but 'Nettle, Mandy', and 'Nicholas, Daisy' went to Hufflepuff.

"Potter, Albus" At that name whispers spread around the hall like a wild fire. Why was he so important? Who was he? It seems that everyone knows but me…

"GRYFFINDOR" A thunderous clap came from the Gryffindor table.

"Salkan, Demi"

"SLYTHERIN"

"Silverton, Zoë"

I was about to have a panic attack. I hobbled up to the stool and sat down. The hat went over my eyes.

"_So…interesting…yes, alright. Smart…very smart…very kind…also brave_. _What to do…what to do. Yes. Okay._" Said a small voice inside my ear.

"RAVENCLAW"

Shacking, I made my way over to the Ravenclaw table.

"Stanley, Kimberly"

"RAVENCLAW"

"Weasley, Rose"

"GRYFFINDOR"

"Wellington, Terrie"

"HUFFLEPUFF"

"Zeller, Stan"

"GRYFFINDOR"

With that Professor Granger rolled up her scroll and went to sit at the teacher's table. When everyone had sat down the Headmaster got up, Professor Azoth.

"Welcome new students! Welcome back old students! Now please note that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden to all who doesn't to die a most painful death. Now enjoy!"

Suddenly the plates filled themselves to the brim with everything you could think of. I stuffed myself so full that it was painful to get up from the table when a Ravenclaw Prefect said to get up so that we could go to the common room.

We followed her all the way up six flights of stairs and through a door hidden by a tapestry. Finally we got to dark blue door with a handsome eagle doorknocker. She knocked it and a musical voice said, "When does a circle end?"

"What do you think it is?" she asked us. "I think that the answer is that the circle never ends or I could say when it gets tired and decides to stop going round and round."

"Yes, you could say that," said the musical voice approvingly and the door swung open to reveal a huge, airy, and blue room with a spectacular view. I looked up and saw a midnight blue, circular ceiling with a painting of an eagle that had golden stars around the edges. It was truly gorgeous.

"Your dormitories are upstairs. Girls are to the right, boys, on your left. All of your things are already there. Oh, fair warning. The stairs change. Also there is a nasty little man whose' name is 'Peeves'. Don't mess with him, and he won't mess with you…well he will mess with you either way, but it's better to keep your head down. Understandable?" She asked kindly.

Lily and I went upstairs chatting about how Stacey and Emily must be feeling, I mean after all they were in separate houses. We were the only ones who ended up in the same house. I was definitely thankful for that.

When I changed into my pajamas I crawled in bed and forced Melody to lie down with me. She purred.

The next morning I looked around, blinked, and convinced myself that it hadn't been a dream. I pulled Melody closed to me and grinned. After that I got up, woke Lily, and we got dressed, then headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast (getting lost many times).

Professor Chang, the head of Ravenclaw House handed out our schedules. I looked down and studied it.

"Herbology, ten o'clock to eleven. Then we have Charms, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Potions. Not too bad, I suppose." Lily read aloud. "We have Herbology with Hufflepuff. We can see Stacey, then! Then Charms with the Slytherins, Transfiguration with the Gryffindors, we can see Emily! Then potions with the Hufflepuffs again."

When we finished our toast we asked a couple of second years where the green houses were, followed their the directions, got lost, asked for more directions, and finally found them. Professor Longbottom was waiting for us outside the green houses. He directed us into Green House number one and we started to trim overgrown Meemah plants. They were floating plants that had miniscule leaves and a wide trunk. They grew on the Sun's energy and nothing else. They were just…there, floating. Oh, also their leaves were a startlingly bright orange.

After we got out Lily and I ran up to Stacey and asked her how she was doing. She was fine and loved everything about…everything.

Then we got lost on our way to Charms, asked for directions, got lost, then realized that the classroom was right in front of us. We found some seats and got our books out and waited for Professor Chang. She came in, told us to get out our books and we started a lesson on levitation.

"One of the most basic skills of the wizard is levitation. Do you all remember the hand motion? Swish and flick. Good. Now you say '_Wingardium Leviosa'_. All right get started."

After a half an hour of pitifully failing to get our feathers up off the table, I finally got it. The first one in the whole class. I was proud of myself. After Charms we followed everybody else, hoping that they were going to the Transfiguration classroom.

I looked inside the classroom and saw Professor Weasley reading a book titled _The Rise and fall of the Dark Arts, Ultimate Edition._

"Good Morning. Welcome to your first Transfiguration Lesson. Transfiguration is among the most complicated and difficult subjects that you will study here at Hogwarts." She said when the whole class had filled in. "Today we shall be working on turning mice into water goblets. Example. Tap it three times. Then say _'feroverto'_. Your turn_._"

Immediately recognizing this as the spell that had turned Sophie into a glass when I fist met Professor Longbottom. I looked at my small mouse attempting to escape in any way possible. I caught it. It is just too pitiful. I don't want to hurt it. I still hadn't transfigured my mouse completely (it still had whiskers and a tail) when the bell rang.

"Now time for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Where do you reckon that is?" Lily asked. "We have Defense with the Slytherins. They look like a right out unpleasant lot to me."

I nodded and we asked around for directions. A couple minutes later we arrived at a large classroom. It looked especially large today because all of the desks had been pushed up to the walls of the classroom, leaving an open floor in the middle.

A man wearing dark red robes walked into the center of the classroom.

"My name is Professor Morris. I am your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Today we shall be learning about the Hippogriff. Hippogriffs are half giant eagle, half horse. Here are some drawings and pictures. They are highly proud creatures. If you insult the Hippogriff in any way…that might as well be the last thing you do." He explained. He has a kind, reassuring voice.

During the lesson we took notes on the Hippogriff and its requirements. (I mean by "requirements", what you have to do to not get slashed to death with its inch long talons.)

"I like him. He seems to be a good teacher." I said thoughtfully to Emily as we wandered over to the Potions classroom. "I wonder who the Potions Master will be?"

"I hope they're nice. There's a rumor going around that when Harry Potter was—"

"Sorry, but who's Harry Potter?" I asked earnestly.

"Who's _Harry Potter_? Why he is the reason you are even here at Hogwarts. It was Dark times, some thirty years ago. Terror everywhere. Muggles, witches, wizards disappearing all the time. Chaos everywhere. You don't know whom to trust. The Ministry of Magic is in complete disarray. When He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or Voldemort killed Dumbledore—or at least thought he did—he took Hogwarts and forbade anyone who is not Half-blood or pureblood to go to Hogwarts. But it turns out that his most trusted advisor, Severus Snape, had turned on him and was working against him and the Dark Side. Snape was awful to Harry and everyone who was not in Slytherin. The reason he was so awful to Harry in particular was because Harry's dad was Snape's enemy at school. Snape was the Potions Master."

"Wow…erm…that was quite a long story. But Snape does sound awful. I hope that our Potions Master isn't like that." I said, suddenly worried.

We found the dark classroom thirty seconds before the bell rang. ("Whew!" Lily said.)

It turned out that our teacher was a kindly witch by the name of Professor Stelkin. We learned a potion called the Remembrance Potion.

"Your homework is six inches of parchment on the properties of the Agoa and its uses in potion-making."

When the bell rang Lily and I headed back up to the common room—getting lost of course. The eagle doorknocker said,

"Where do vanished objects go?"

Lily wasn't sure so it was up to me. "Into…non-being?"

"Good." And let us in.

The common room was noisy and crowded, but it wasn't loud enough to not be able to concentrate, so Lily and I set up our books and set to work on our miniature essay for Professor Stelkin.

Once we finished we played a game of Exploding Snap. Lily won, because I had never played before, but she plays a lot. But when we played a second time Lily lost superbly to me. Yay!

We went to bed around nine, after we had revised each other's miniature essays.

4

Lily's (not so) Big Mistake

We wandered down to the Great Hall around nine o'clock in the morning. We met Emily at the bottom of the marble staircase and started off toward the Great Hall together. On the way to breakfast we met Peeves. He was throwing bits of chalk and bits of trash from the rubbish bins. But once he saw us he cackled, "Won't let the ickle firsties cross, no, no, no. But if you want to cross you have to set your knickers on fire!"

"Oh, gosh. I'm starving!" Lily sighed, defeated. "What are we going to do?"

"Stacey's going to think we stood her up. We promised her we would meet her at breakfast!" Emily said. Then out of the blue she took a running jump and made for Peeves.

"Ouch! Ah! Ha ha ha ha!" Peeves struggled then managed to get her in a headlock. I had to do something! I didn't want to get in trouble but….

I picked up the bits of chalk from the floor and pelted them at Peeves.

"Wha's goin' on 'ere!" Came an angry voice from behind us. It was Professor Hagrid, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher.

"Please, Professor! We were trying to hurry to breakfast because our friend, Stacey, is waiting. Then Peeves tried to get us to burn our knickers to get past. So Emily tried to grab him and he got hold of her, so I picked up the bits of chalk Peeves had been throwing earlier and pelted them at him." I finished breathlessly.

"All righ'. I believe you, bu' you are goin' to haff to take this one up with the Headmaster. Now, you, Peeves! Get o'er 'ere!"

"Peeves wasn't doing nothing! No, no, it was the ickle midgets who's doing all the commotion!" Peeves said with a nasty grin.

"You girls go down to breakfas' an' I'll deal whi' this one." Hagrid said. "You." he pointed at Peeves, "We are going to take this up with the Headmaster _an'_ the Bloody Baron."

We were halfway to the Great Hall when Emily burst out, "I can't believe you Lily! You just stood there! At least Zoë did something to help!"

"What? What do you mean?" Lily said, her lip trembling.

"Oh, you know what I mean!" With that she started back toward Gryffindor Tower.

"Aren't you coming to eat?" I asked timidly.

"No! I am sick of Lily at the moment and don't want to talk to you, her, or anybody." She burst into tears and ran back up the marble staircase.

"I-I d-don't kno-know what hap-happened. It a-all wa-was s-so s-sudden." Lily sobbed. "I d-didn't w-want t-to g-get in-into tr-trouble. Y-you go. T-tell St-stacey wha-what happen-happened." She ran back up the stairs as Emily had done and departed toward the common room.

I ventured toward the Great Hall, went inside and found an extremely disgruntled Stacey.

"I have been waiting for forty-five minutes! Where have—where are Emily and Lily?"

I launched into the whole story. "We met Peeves at the bottom of the stairs, and he said that we had to put fire to our knickers if wanted to cross to get to eat. So Emily jumped at him and he grabbed her, so I pelted the bits of chalk that he had been throwing round earlier at him. Then Professor Hagrid came and we told him the story, then he took Peeves to the Headmaster.

We were almost here when Emily totally freaked and starting screaming about how Lily had done nothing whatsoever to help her, so she ran to the Gryffindor common room, and Lily got all upset on herself and sobbed all the way up to the Ravenclaw tower."

"Wow…erm…have a hotcake." We sat at our tables but put the plates on our laps and faced each other, our tables were right next to each other. "So…do you think they will speak to each other again? Stacey asked worriedly.

"Hopefully. I bet they'll come round. I'm hoping soon." We finished breakfast and set off.

Once in the common room I decided to write to my parents.

_Dear Mum and Dad,_

_ How is everyone? How are you two? I love Hogwarts. I made Ravenclaw! At Hogwarts__we have Houses that you get sorted into, honoring the founders of the school. I am in the one where "those of wit and learning will always find their kind." I made friends with Lily that girl from the train station, and two other girls. Stacey Abrisham and Emily Cantman. Lily and I are in Ravenclaw together, but Emily is in Gryffindor, for the brave. Stacey is in Hufflepuff, for the sweet and hardworking. I love you!_

_ Love From,_

Zoë

I went up to the Owlery and got the help of a school Barn Owl. It flew gracefully out the window and glided out of sight.

When I got back to the common room to tell Lily that it's time for classes, I found her on her four-poster bed still crying.

"It's almost time for classes. We have our first flying lesson today. But first we have Defense with the Gryffindors. Come on class starts in fifteen minutes."

I practically dragged her out of the door because at my mentioning "Gryffindors" she had brought on a fresh wave of tears.

We got to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom just as the bell rang. "Good Morning. Today we shall be dealing with another magical…creature. Follow me please."

We went to a deserted classroom across the hall. "Now, can you all see the trunk at the back of the class? See how it is shaking like that? Does anyone know what it is?"

"A Boggart. Boggarts transform into whatever the person fears most." Said Ellie Jump, a girl who has short black hair and one brown, and one blue eye.

"Very good, Miss Jump, is it?" Professor Morris said approvingly. "Mr. Ackley? Will you join me please? Thank you. Now what is it you fear most?"

Ron, a Gryffindor boy, with glasses and brown hair went on his tiptoes and whispered something in Professor Morris's ear.

"Ahhh. Can you picture what you fear the most in…say…" He leaned down and whispered something into Ron's ear. "You may go back. Now there is a simple spell that repels a Boggart. Repeat after me please. _Riddikulus._"

"_Riddikulus!_" The class chanted back.

"Good. But what really repels a Boggart is _laughter._ You must force the Boggart to form a shape that you truly find amusing. Mr. Ackley, if you please. On the count of three, one…two…three!" He opened the locks of the trunk with his wand and Ron; trembling head to foot watched as a Banshee came out, shrieking.

"_R-riddikulus!" _Nothing happened. "_Riddikulus!"_ The Banshee's black, torn, dirt covered cloak became Muggle's clothes. A kilt and a poncho. Ron, who was Muggle-born, found this highly amusing. The Banshee backtracked sat huddled in a corner.

"All right. Form a line, please! Ron to the back!"

Samantha Andy, a shy girl in Ravenclaw got in front of the line. _Crack!_ A Mummy…. its' head rolled off and it tripped over it's old wrappings and fell to pieces on the floor. _Crack!_ Emily was next, a vampire, eyes wild, lunged…its blood-sucking fangs turned into wine-gums. _Crack!_ Stan Zeller came up front. A Manticore reared and prepared to strike…it shrank to about the size of an eyeball.

It went on like this for forty-five more minutes. The last few minutes of class we took notes on what we fear the most. I learned a lot about Kelpies. Lily learned a lot about Red Caps.

After that we had flying with the Slytherins. We went down to the Quidditch Pitch where we assembled around the broomsticks and waited for our teacher, Madam Kirkland.

She arrived five minutes later, her wispy brown hair flying out behind her, her eyes scanning us like a hawk. It gave me the most peculiar feeling, as though I had done something wrong.

"I am Madam Kirkland, now stand on the left side of your broom, stick your right hand up over the broom, say 'Up', wait for the broom to fly into your hand, if that doesn't work do it again. Then wait for further instruction." She was a "No funny- business, get straight to it" kind of teacher.

"Up! _Up! Up! _UP!" I yelled. I felt slightly silly yelling at an immovable sweeping broom. Finally on my fifth try I managed to get it up into my hand.

"Now, you have all got your brooms I see, good. Grasp your broom firmly around the handle, mount it, and when I blow my whistle, kick off hard from the ground, then after you have risen a few feet in the air lean forward and touch back down. Got it?"

"Yes," the class echoed. "Good. Ready, set…" she blew hard on her whistle and everybody kicked off hard from the ground. Everything went smoothly until a Slytherin thought he could fly better than any of us, and when Madam Kirkland had her back turned he kicked off and went up five feet…ten feet…twenty feet into the air. He whooped, waved his hands in the air, and Madam Kirkland turned around.

"Mr. Feshall! You get back down here before I go up there myself! Jack Feshall! No sense at all. Jack Feshall, Triple detention! I shall take it up with your Head of House! If all goes well you, me, and the headmaster will be having a little chat in her office sometime today! May even be right after this lesson! Class dismissed! Oh, _not you_, Mr. Feshall." She hissed. "Good job, everybody…_else_. Oh! Miss Falcon! Take this note to Professor Morris, please. Thank you."

Suzie Falcon was a short Slytherin girl with her curly blonde hair in a high ponytail. Her eyes were bright green. She looked perfectly nice and joyful, but she was gothic on the inside. She wore heavy black eyeliner, no blush, and was unnaturally pale. She also had heavy circles under eyes. When you insulted her she always got you back someway or another. When you whispered behind her back, she knew. She always knew. It was really creepy.

After that we headed down to lunch. We filled up on pasta and salad. It was good. Around noon we headed down to Charms with the Hufflepuffs.

"Today we will be learning how to create a jet of water from our wands. Set your wands down, please. Thank you. Now repeat after me. _Aguamenti!_"

"_Aguamenti!_" the class echoed.

"Now I don't want the class dripping wet by the time we get out of here, so please, no aiming at each other for whatever reason. Do you understand? Absolutely none of that." Professor Chang said sternly.

"Yes, we understand," Our voices rang throughout the classroom.

"Excellent." She smiled, "Now as I was saying, there are buckets in the back of the classroom. I want you all to aim into that, _not_ _each other's faces._" She added sternly.

Some of the boy's faces looked slightly crest-fallen, but the other boy's were smirking as if to say, "_Should I drench Daron or Joe, first?"_

I set my wand on my desk and ventured to the back of the classroom to grab a blue bucket. I grabbed it and sat back down.

"Now…_Aguamenti_!" I attempted my first try. "_Aguamenti!_" I heard people calling out their first effort at the charm. Lily's water was so powerful that it ricocheted off from the inside of her bucket and sprayed a bewildered Terrie Wellington in the face.


End file.
